Improvement in chairs



J. H. MABBETT.

CHAIR.

Patented Jan. 11, 1876.

WITNESSES 1 9*1 INVENTOR By r l 'l l E? .fl

.fttorneys N. PETERS, FHOTO-LHNOGRAPHER, WASHINGTONx D c.

UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. MABBETT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMEN'T IN CHAIRS.

Specification' forming part of Letters Patent N o. 172, 136, dated January 1l, 1876; application led August 7, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. MABBETT, of the city and county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rattan Chairs,

ot the public without materially increasing the f expense.

The frame proper is of rattan, form-ed into any suitable design, braced with a series of arches or rings bound with split cane or rattan, and having a seat of any suitable construction. It is not intended to claim in this patent a rattan chair, but only such features as give such chair greater strength at points where it is `most needed.

In rattan chairs heretofore made the arm frame or support has been united to the seat Y by notching or boring in the seat-frame, and

inserting the frame-supports therein and brad ing'or nailing them to the seat-frame.

This method of construction is constantly liable to rack and sag out of shape, and finally draw out or separate the points of union with the seat.

My invention is designed to overcome this objection by having the continuous back-frame pass through the seat-openings and below the same a suitable distance, and uniting the front projecting arms and the back-supports beneath the seat by a horizontal brace or band, and in connection therewith I combine a series of rattan truss-braces having their bearings alike upon the horizontal circular brace or band and the bottom of the seat-frame, whereby I obtain the advantage and strength of a lattice-workbeneath the seat, which exerts two bracing forces-viz., a horizontal and a vertical bracing. force, not only for the seat proper, but for the entire chair-frame. The eiiect ot the truss-bracing is to maintain the horizontal brace or band rmly in position, while the latter binds the front projecting and the back supports lirmly in their xed position, so that, in effect, I employ a light basef curtain structure as means for giving the required strcngth to the` chair. ln addition` to this the base-curtain forms a guard to shield from view the castings used to connect the seat and base together, and to prevent acci dental pinching of the fingers between the tilting-castings and the front frame of the chair. i rIhis guard's'hield is formed by intertwining a series of rattan rings and arches between the horizontal base brace or band and the chair seat or frame, and which gives aneat finish to the chair.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a View in perspective of my im` proved chair; Fig. 2, a side viewof the same,

showing the front and back frame supports' united to the base-curtain brace, and Fig. 3, a bottom View.

rIhe arms A and the back B of the chair consist of single lengths of stout rattan, bent into the required contour. Several of these lengths are thus formed and bound together by split cane or rattan, so as to form an open frame with suitable armrests. The front por tions of these rattans are broughttogether, and passed through openings bored in the seat-frame, and extend down beneath the same a suitable distance-say, from three to ve inches-to form extensions C, while stout rattans D, bound to the back-frame, extend through openings or in notches in the seatframe, below the same, and form, with the front extensions, four or more supports, C E, to the ends ot which a horizontal encircling brace or band, F, is rmly bound bysplit rattan, and serve to hold the chair-back frame to the seat-frame. Combined with this horizontal brace I employ a 'series of rattan truss braces or arches, G, in which the struts abut 'against the Iextension-supports C E, at their junction with the horizontal brace or band, and join intermediately With the bottom of the seat-frame, thus t'ormin g a base-bracin g structu ure below the chair'seat, in which both a vertical and horizontal force are united to resist the tendency of' the arms to rack land become loose, and to bind the chairi'raiue with the seat-trame. rIhe surrounding.;` space formed by this base structure is illed in by Woven arches' H ot' rattan, and forms a curtain or shield to hide the tilting-irons and increase the strength ot the base structure. The curtain or shield thus formed serves also to prevent the accidental pinching of the fingers in taking hold of the chair in front of' the scat to move it, and, besides, forms an ornamental finish to the seat. rIhe arms have intermediate rattan supports, bound together, but these do not extend below the chair-frame. The split binding of the arms and supports joins the seat-frame both above and below, and forms shoulders to these joining parts, so that it is impossible for the front arms to give in any direction under the strain exerted by the back-frame.

The gist of the invention'herein, however, consists in the combination, in a rattan chair, ot' a base-bracing curtain, joined firmly to the bottom extension ot' the chair arms and back.

Truss-bracing has been used in chairs in which the back forms a continuation ot' the legs; but my invention is specially adapted for swivel-seat chairs, in which the arms and back-supports project beneath the seat, and are secured and braced, so as to resist the tendency of t-he arm-supports to draw out of the seat-sockets.

I claim- In a rattan tilting or swivel-seat chair, the arm and back supports C E of the frame, extending` beneath the seat, in combination with a horizontal and truss or arch base-bracing, F G, firmly bound to the frame-extensions, substantially as and for the purposes herein set fort-h.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have affixed my signature in presence ot' two witnesses.

JOHN H. MABBETT.

Witnesses:

WM. H. TUCKER, C. R. SHERMAN.-` 

